Sidekick Concept Art

Lumi Turnaround

This is our sidekick, Lumi. I chose for her the form of a paper lantern because it fit perfectly with the art style. At the early stages of design, she was an important secondary main character who had abilities to affect the environment. However, we decided to cut a lot of complex gameplay ideas because we don't have a dedicated programmer. Instead, we will play to our team's strength in art. Lumi is currently most important to narrative.

Choosing what exactly Lumi is has been a long process. We had ideas for her as a robot, a fire spirit, an animal, and a lantern. It was only after we established the papercraft style in early October that we could narrow it down to something that fits with the environment. When I chose this look we also had the idea that other similar characters would be scattered around the background and revived to increase the light level. That idea was also scrapped more recently in favor of collectibles.

Initial design sketches in pencil for Lumi as a paper lantern

From this narrowed down early design sheet, I had the team choose favorites and critique the looks, similar to the early monster concept art sheet. However, while the favorite monsters were chosen unanimously, Lumi's design was subject to more critique and took more time to research and design overall. The geometric style fit best with the art style. I mixed this with the ribbons in the final design to give Lumi some character. I imagine in Lumi's idle animation that she would float gently in place, and when she moves her ribbons trail behind her.